VOTE411 Voter Guide

6th District Assembly
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The NJ General Election will take place on Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Voters will head to the polls to select a Governor, State Senator, and State Assemblymembers, as well as a number of county and local elected officials.

CHOOSE TWO CANDIDATES FROM BELOW TO COMPARE

Winston Extavour (Rep)

Louis D. Greenwald (Dem)Attorney

Pamela R. Lampitt (Dem) General Manager for Conference and Dining Services, University of Pennsylvania

David C. Moy (Rep)

Monica Sohler (ASP)

Change Candidates

Biographical Information

New Jersey has some of the highest property taxes in the nation. What, if anything, do you propose to lower property taxes?

New Jersey's state pension system has recently been named the worst-funded state retirement plan in the country and is arguably one of our largest financial problems. How do you propose to address our state's pension issues?

How can New Jersey meet our energy needs while protecting our environment? For example, would you support energy conservation, expansion of renewable energy projects, hydraulic fracturing, and pipelines, etc?

What would you do to promote job growth in our state?

Please indicate three additional state priority issues for you (not already listed in this questionnaire) and explain how you would address them.

I believe it’s important that we work to make our tax system more equitable to provide relief for our state’s working and middle-class families. In the past, I’ve supported measures to eliminate the tax break on the wealthy, senior property tax freeze & homestead rebate programs, which can be used to offset property tax bills and more recently I have advocated for a comprehensive tax code reform with the purpose of reducing our overreliance on property taxes to fund our local government. To do this, I have introduced legislation that proposes a constitutional convention to reform our broken property tax system and remain committed to working with my colleagues in the legislature to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live.

Not funding our state’s pension system is one of our largest financial problems, largely responsible for our 11 credit downgrades in the last 7 years. It’s critical that we make our pension payment, which is why I supported legislation to require the state to make quarterly pension payments to ensure that we fund the system appropriately. This legislature has included the entire annually required pension payment in the state budget year after year – it’s the Governor who has line item vetoed that funding. It’s my sincere hope that our next Governor will understand the imperative of reducing our structural deficit and keeping our promise to public workers. I pledge to work with him/her to help identify funding and ensure that we meet our obligation every year.

It’s critical to our environment that we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by utilizing clean/renewable & environmentally friendly energy sources. During my time in the legislature, I have supported efforts to invest in these clean & renewable sources, including wind & solar, which help to create jobs & meet our increasing energy need. I have opposed hydraulic fracking and the storage of its waste here in New Jersey because of the potential to contaminate our soil and waterways. More recently, I supported legislation to require New Jersey’s full participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. I believe it’s important we continue to increase the use of sustainable energy sources & remain committed to supporting initiatives that promote the use of these clean energy sources.

To promote and stimulate job growth in New Jersey, we must focus on both job growth and retention. We have seen an unfortunate outmigration of jobs following the great recession, & we’ve worked hard over the last number of years to reduce that trend & incentivize businesses to expand and relocate to NJ. We’re seeing this take place as a result of measures I supported, such as the Economic Opportunity Act, which has helped to promote job creation and retention. As our economy continues to move away from manufacturing, we must invest in STEM careers which have been among the fastest growing career paths in our state. I will continue to support efforts to attract businesses and invest in STEM programs, which will help make New Jersey the hub for careers in science, technology and medicine.

To ensure every school has fair & adequate state funding, I helped to craft legislation which reallocates funding to bring everyone to 100% over a five year period. This will ensure our children continue to receive a quality education & has the potential to keep property tax dollars from rising.
In the past, I’ve sponsored the Water Infrastructure and Protection Act to help communities improve their aging infrastructure & recently supported funding to help schools test their water for lead. It’s imperative that we continue to support efforts in our communities to ensure clean safe drinking water.
Now more than ever it’s important states across the country step up to ensure health care access. I remain committed to ensuring that everyone has a right to health care access here in NJ.

While New Jersey’s property tax base helps to provide high quality services and public school systems that continually rank among the top in the nation, more can be done to lower the property tax burden of our residents while maintaining the same standard of public services. To stimulate overall reduction in property taxes, I have introduced legislation to encourage municipalities to develop shared services agreements, as well as a measure to limit accrual and payouts of paid sick time for public employees. I have also supported efforts to promote property tax relief by advocating for the funding of the state’s property tax reimbursement program and homestead rebate, both of which help to make our state more affordable for seniors.

The current crisis the state pension system finds itself in can largely be attributed to the governor’s consistent unwillingness to make the state’s full payment to the state pension system. Each time the can was kicked down the road, the greater our unfunded pension liability became and the harder it became to rectify the problem. That is why I supported efforts to require the state to make full payments in order meet its pension obligation each time the Legislature took up these measures.

It is important that the state continue to make efforts to ensure that our state pension system remains solvent. I supported requiring the state to make quarterly payments to the pension system, a measure which will help to keep the pension system fiscally stable.

For the state to continue to meet its energy needs while remaining environmentally prudent, New Jersey must invest in eco-friendly, green technologies and promote the use of renewable energy sources. The use of hydraulic fracturing and pipelines can pose a serious threat to the environment when not maintained properly. I have been a strong advocate for environmentally friendly issues in the Assembly, sponsoring legislation to establish the Office of Sustainability, which would be tasked with developing and implementing environmental sustainability measures to promote the use of green energy in all state buildings. It is important that we seek innovative and forward-thinking approaches that will reduce our consumption of natural resources and promote the use of renewable energy sources.

To stimulate job growth, we must promote new industries and help small businesses thrive within the state. I have been a working to promote the growth of the craft alcohol industry in our state by sponsoring legislation to roll back antiquated laws that have created unnecessary barriers for these businesses - such as a bill that would allow cider and mead producers to operate in the state, which was recently signed into law, and another which would remove the burdensome tour requirement for breweries. To promote small businesses, I have also sponsored measures that support the expansion of female and minority owned business by making them eligible for various loan programs as well as supporting increased budgetary funding for New Jersey Small Business Development Centers.

-Promote gender pay equity

I’ve sponsored several measures to close the wage gap, including a bill which would provide women with the tools to combat wage discrimination & another bill which would prohibit employers from discriminating based on previous pay during the interview process.

-Paid sick days for all working New Jerseyans

More than 1 million New Jerseyans do not have access to paid leave through their employer. That is why I introduced legislation to provide all workers in our state with the ability to accrue paid time off.

-Making healthcare accessible & affordable

I’ve been working to expand telehealth in NJ by authorizing practitioners to provide care through telemedicine. Healthcare services provided through telemedicine makes care more accessible & affordable.

I believe in facilitating solutions, rather than forcing them. Facilitate municipalities sharing services. The biggest chunk of property taxes support public schools. There are ways to reduce costs without attacking teachers. Reduce expensive mandates,including testing mandates, and allow districts to decide what bests serves their needs. Give them the ability to cut their own costs in reasonable ways. Consolidate school districts and cut administrative positions and costs.

Most private industry use 401K programs instead of pension programs. The state should follow. Current employees keep their pensions, but new hires should do what other taxpayers do, and have a 401K. Simple, effective, and eases the state burden without harming the worker.

Common sense is needed over dogma here. I support energy conservation, the promotion of green energy, but programs need to be fact based. I support preserving open space and farmland in our “garden state” The costs of preserving open space are small relative to other state expenditures, and the preservation benefits all residents.

Make it easier for businesses to survive in NJ by cutting all but the most necessary regulations. We need to preserve the rights of workers, and the environment, but NJ is an area packed with unnecessary regulation both on the very local level and the state level. Why should businesses stay in NJ and provide jobs if the state makes it very difficult for them to survive?

Opioid Epidemic
In NJ one of the major, if not currently the most important, health crisis is the Opioid epidemic. Our fellow citizens are dying. We need to as a people, be willing to provide help, support, and funding for programs to help people combat this
addiction, as well as methods of curbing the over prescribing of painkillers.
Domestic Abuse: Ensure training for Police in handling domestic abuse cases. Many depts already do this. Police are often the first to be able to reach the abused and direct them to help.
Improving Education: Cut testing mandates and other unnecessary mandates, support school choice, homeschooling, and give teachers the freedom to teach.
Defund Planned Parenthood, fund community health clinics (providing whole health care) instead

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Disclaimer:

All statements and videos are posted directly by the candidate, unedited by the League of Women Voters and do not express the views of the League. The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties.